Friday 15/4

The weather remained unchanged in the morning. I sat down to have breakfast at a table close to the window, for great vistas, in the company of two middle-aged women. They had arrived at Kläppen, by car, a day later than they had planned, so in order for them to be able to visit all the places they wanted to visit, they had to merge two stages. They had done so by skiing to Helags, having lunch there, and then continuing on to Gåsen – a total distance of almost 30 km. From there, they had gone to Sylarna, and would now be returning to Helags.

I was a bit quicker than they regarding preparations, however, so I left the station first, at 09:30. It was a little colder than the day before, being earlier in the day and all, and it was a little more windy, so the working temperature of the first part of the journey was fine. After a couple of hours or so of easy skiing and gliding (a significant portion was pure downhill), I arrived at the Mieskentjakke shelter about halfway, where I went off the trail to an area of bare rock and heath to sit down to prepare lunch (freeze-dried).

While I was there, a man with a packing sled and a dog came from the northeast, cutting across the country. A bit later, a pair of snowmobile drivers joined the party; they were from the county's nature protection administration, and had been putting out food for near-endangered fjeld foxes, of which a number were residing in the area. I never caught a glimpse of one, though. Still a bit later, the two women arrived and chatted with the sled-and-dog man, but they all soon continued on their respective ways while I was nearing the end of my own break.

Templet up close

Sylskalstöten rising...

...opposite to Herrklumpen

Tempeldalen

On the ridge, looking east

Västra Bunnerstöten in the northeast

The Helags massif in full view

Ekorrhammaren

Before long I had caught up with the women, and we continued together for a while until I broke away again. By then the sun was doing its thing with great prowess, so I soon stopped to take off the anorak. Even though the terrain had actually been slanting upwards all the time from the shelter (or, rather, from the bridge a few hundred meters south of it), the inclination was so slight that it was hardly noticeable. So, with no particular exertion I rounded about a quarter of the Helags massif, and was at the cottages some time before 15.

Helags gleaming in the sun

Looking back towards Sylarna

Beneath the Helags glacier

The Helags site is kind of a blend between "cottages" and "station": there is electrical power and a main building, and the accommodation buildings are heated with radiators, have electric lights, and electric stoves, whereas there is no running water inside, and no proper drain, and neither are there water closets. There is also a shower-and-sauna building, and that one has running water and actual showers, so that's where one goes to fill the water buckets. Finally, the main building has a cafeteria of sorts, which offers simple food items, bakery, and the like, and there is a well-equipped shop.

UPDATE: As of the 2007 winter season, Helags has regained its former status of fjeld station, and is no longer referred to as "cottage(s)" in official STF material.

Just as I arrived, a large group was about to leave by tracked vehicle; they had apparently come with it too and had had lunch. I checked in at the reception and dumped my stuff in the room I was allotted. I then set out on a little round trip, continuing the turn around the massif and climbing the slopes while I did so. After passing a reindeer fence, I had a good view of the land to the south, following the beholding of which I turned back and glided down the mountainside.

View southeast, towards Ljungdalen

View southwest

Pointed formation

Helags exhibits some steep slopes

Back at the cottages, I sat down against the wall and read in the sun, while consuming a cup of instant soup. By then the women had arrived, and they went straight to the sauna. I did the same a bit later, and then entered the main building to "order dinner", as it were. Since the facilities at hand for obvious reasons have certain limits, and because the staff lacks the proper education, Helags is not authorized by the national food administration to prepare food dishes on site. Consequently, the extent of their food handling is mixing salads and putting frozen packages into microwave ovens. That may not sound so glamorous, but what makes it interesting is that they have a deal with a Sámi provider in Kiruna, who freezes suovas (smoked reindeer meat) in packs with different composition – I had one of those, and it was very good.

After I had been served, the whole staff (consisting of five persons) sat down at the table next to me to have dinner themselves, and a bit later the women came in and got some food too. It was a calm evening for the staff, who had had the opposite the day before – over a hundred guests had been present then! As the evening progressed, two guys arrived by snowmobile; they had downhill skis instead of cross-country ones, and were planning on climbing the massif by foot the next day to get some good runs, spend the following night in a tent, and then repeat the procedure. Also, just before 19 when the "kitchen" was about to "close", a small group of Norwegians came in the failing light, but they got to eat as well. After dinner, I stayed in the common room reading for a while, before returning to "my" cottage and the evening snack.

Colored twilight

Gamla Östan, the oldest building at Helags

The main building at night

Last light